The Hartselle Board of Education delayed awarding bids for construction of the high school until a special called meeting on May 9.

At Monday’s regular meeting, Board President Jennifer Sittason  read the following prepared statement:

“We continue to work through the engineering process to ensure the new Hartselle High School project meets budget requirements and will wait until this process is complete before presenting the board with recommendations for award of the final contract.

“Throughout the last two weeks, we have made significant progress on value engineering actions and have identified areas where we can award individual bid packages, which will enable us to bring the costs within the projected budget and possibly provide additional opportunities for local participation in construction. All negotiations are being handled in strict compliance with the Alabama Public Works Competitive Bid Law and in concert with guidelines established by the Alabama Building Commission.

“By diligently working through this process, our goal is to save the school system money, while at the same time provide our students and the community with the highest quality facility that we can all be proud of – for years to come. I am confident we will be able to accomplish this goal.

“Final calculations, contracts and recommendations will be presented to the board on May 9 at a special called board meeting.

“I appreciate your patience during this length process and feel it’s in the school system’s best interest for the construction manager, architectural firm and contractors to continue the process to finalize recommendations for our path forward.”